VIDEO: Watch as fly-tipper gets caught red-handed dumping truck load of waste - but was only fined £73...

John Buckland, from Accrington, used a tipper truck to dump tree cuttings and garden waste in a known fly-tipping hotspot.

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The level of the fine has been criticised as being ‘completely out if touch’ and ‘sending the wrong message’ by community leaders in the town.

It comes as Keep Britain Tidy has called on government ministers to introduce a £1,000 fixed fine for fly-tipping, a move that has been backed by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Manchester magistrates court heard that CCTV operatives watched in amazement as Mr Buckland backed his tipper truck into a cul de sac and emptied the huge pile of garden waste on to the street.

He then got out of the truck to check nothing was left in the vehicle before driving away.

Mr Buckland, 45, of Altham caravan site, Whinney Hill Road, pleaded guilty at Manchester magistrates court to illegally dumping waste on land at Thurlow Street in Salford on Saturday September 27 last year.

He was also found to have breached two environment laws and was also ordered to pay £500 court costs and £20 victim surcharge.

He was traced and told council officers he had no money to get home so had used the £20 he was paid from clearing a garden in Salford to put petrol in his tank.

But later the same day he rang back to say the tree cuttings and waste had come from his own land at the caravan site 30 miles away and that he had not been paid to clear a garden.

Cllr Miles Parkinson, the leader of Hyndburn Borough Council, said: “The level of the fine is not right at all.

“The courts do not impose strong enough fines to act as a deterrent.

“This is not a punishment that meets the crime and until that changes people will not be swayed from doing this sort of crime.

“People who fly tip put more pressure on the council tax payer as it’s the council who have to clean up after them.

“This fine is simply not good enough.”

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said the fine was outrageous.

He said : “He should have been fined thousands of pounds because the cost of clearing up fly tipping should be passed on to those that dump the rubbish.

“Magistrates are completely out of touch and something needs to be done.”

Speaking after the case, Councillor Gena Merrett, Salford assistant mayor for housing and environment, said: “I find it impossible to believe anyone would drive 30 miles to dump tree cuttings from their own land in a city street.

“I’m also very disappointed at the fine. I think it sends out entirely the wrong message to people who think they can use our streets as a rubbish bin.

“Every pound we spend clearing up after fly tippers is a pound which could be better spent on essential services.”

Earlier this week Richard McIlwain, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, called for harsher penalties against fly-tippers.

He said: “Rates of fast-food littering and fly-tipping are on the rise and many people find this really offensive.

“We need a really effective minister for litter, one who is prepared to introduce a national litter strategy for England, to increase fines for littering and to include a £1,000 fixed-penalty notice for fly-tipping.”